Heartless
by Fire Kitty2812
Summary: A new client has turned up at SPR's door. why does it seem that she isnt here just for help and is mai involved...again. will be NXM n others...maybe. title is subject to change and so is the rating. for now its T. may contain gore and lemon content. RXR
1. Chapter 1

Hi! My name is Mai, Taniyama Mai. I am 16 years old. My hair is brown as is my eyes. My personality seems cheerful and I smile all the time but what they don't realize is that it's all fake. Every smile, every laugh, every joke and even the clumsiness and helpless act is fake. I have a secret a deadly secret. See, I'm leading a double life. One that could eventually get my friends killed. I would say involved but the moment that we said hi they were targeted. I knew sooner or later they would find out (personally I would prefer the latter but you know how it is).

It was the average day. Same as any other, it makes you think what could possibly go wrong? Well let me tell you, a _lot_ can go wrong. As usual I woke with the sun. Did my morning exercise routine and then took a shower to rid myself of sweat. Of course by this time I was late for work (again).

I arrived to work to hear my boss state the obvious and call for tea. Rolled my eyes, made the tea for Lin and Naru and then began sorting the massive pile of files that had been dumped on my desk by filing them away. It was around two thirty that an uneasy feeling hit me. I stiffened and glanced at the door. My irregular co workers (they had arrived at two) didn't notice a thing. It was approximately 2.3 seconds before the door was thrust opened to reveal a familiar face.

A whistle pierced the air followed by a thud as a small gleaming blade embedded in the wall. The girl stared at it blankly, pulled it out of the wall and turned to face the stunned group.

"Are you alright?" cried Ayako as a thin red line appeared on the girls face, blood running down. The girl ignored the priestess, wiped the blood away and turned to face me. She slammed the knife into the table in front of me.

I stared at the abused table and sighed sadly, "Try not to wreck anything else. It comes out of my pay." The group looked startled at my reaction.

"Um... Mai do you know where that knife came?" asked Monk. I ignored him still looking at the girl.

"I wish I could say it's a pleasure to see you again, but considering the last time we were in the same room proved to be hazardous..."

"Back atcha. I can guess correctly that you know why I came by the loving welcome I received,"

"You know what the answer is, so why are you really here and don't say to see me."

"Mai...? Who's this?" asked John. I jumped having completely forgotten that the others were still here.

Before I could answer _she _had to butt in. With a fake warm smile she introduced herself, "Hi. I'm Azumi," I winced at the next part, "Taniyama Azumi. I'm Mai's sister. It's a pleasure to meet you all. Mai has told me absolutely nothing about you." There was silence then there was an uproar of noise as they bombarded me with questions. I groaned; I was surprised that Naru and Lin hadn't come out from their offices...yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Recap

_I groaned; I was surprised that Naru and Lin hadn't come out yet. _

Chapter Two

*Mai's POV*

**CLICK**

Never mind. The silence was immediate as Naru stepped out of his office. You could almost hear the crickets chirping. Before Naru could even take breath to yell at us, Azumi stood up a glint in her eyes. I was immediately on guard. In the blink of an eye Azumi was across the room flaunting her body and batting her eyes seductively. Bou san, Ayako, Yasu and even John was awed at the speed of the girl's reaction to Naru. Only Masako had an extremely pissed off look that she didn't try to hide. It matched my feelings perfectly.

Naru was looking extremely uncomfortable and was looking at me for help (WTF!). I looked for Lin and saw he wasn't going to be of any use as he was struggling not to laugh out loud (I swear he was gonna bust a vein soon. His face was THAT red). I looked at the current problem that my _sister_ created. I sighed and realized I still had the knife in my hand. With a smirk a flicked my wrist and once again a solid thud resonated around the room.

Azumi paused and slowly turned to face me. "You. Did _Not._ Just do. What. I. Think. You. Just. Did!" she snarled.

"I'm sorry. Did you like your hair? Too bad I missed my _actual_ target." I smiled sweetly glancing at the pile of long brown hair that now lay at Azumi's feet.

"You BITCH!" she lunged at me. I grabbed her outstretched arms and threw her over my head across the room.

"Baka. You left yourself wide opened. Can't you remember your lessons? You do the same thing every time and it always it always has the same result."

By now Bou san and John had pushed the chairs out of the way to avoid unnecessary injuries. The girls and Yasu had retreated into Naru's office. Lin had disappeared and Naru was standing silently observing the scene from a corner of the room.

Azumi finally stood a dark aura forming around her, "Well. It'll be different this time. I have some new tricks up my sleeve."

"About time," I muttered as a 6 inch dagger appeared in her hand, "New blade? What happened to the last one? Every time I see you a new blade appears."

"You are what happened to my blades and you know it, stop smirking and get serious."

"Ha ha ha. You want me serious. Fine I'll give you serious." And with that I was across the room and had punched her in the gut. No one even saw me move. Well at least everyone but Azumi didn't. She snarled and came towards me seemingly unaffected. Then the fight began. Punches and kicks were traded at lightning speed. A pause revealed us covered in bruises, blood and cuts. Azumi was panting slightly.

"GET SERIOUS ALREADY! GO ON! WHERE'S THAT KNIFE OF YOUR"S? WHY WON"T YOU PULL IT OUT ALREADY?" she yelled. Before I could react she had thrown a small 3 inch blade. It went passed me. I heard a yelp as it hit someone. "John!" I heard them cry

"John! Are you alright?" my eyes never leaving Azumi's.

"Don't worry it got my arm."

I heard a yelp as Ayako removed the blade. _Now_ I was pissed. My vision was slowly turning red and the air around me grew darker. I heard a 'finally' and my reply was that she had asked for it and that she now had to suffer the consequences. A blade appeared in each of my hand as I crouched low. I heard Monk drag Naru into the office and he shut the door sensing the danger.

I threw a third blade at her and she narrowly avoided it. Her hair tie was cut though releasing her newly designed hair now similar to mine. While she was distracted I moved. I gathered speed until I couldn't tell what my blades were slicing. I heard a small shriek as she was cut multiple times each varying in depth and width. My subconscious faintly remembered hearing a door open. I was shocked as an arm reached out and stopped me in mid pace.

I struggled to be released until I heard a voice command, "Mai! That's enough. Azumi has learnt her lesson, any more and you will end up killing her." With that my body slumped forward. The familiar arms wrapped tightly around to stop me from falling.

"Oh my lord," gasped John. I guess he and the others had deemed it to be safe to come out. I numbly looked around the room and winced. God I was gonna have a _lot_ of explaining to do. The walls had long and short lines criss-crossing each other the wall paper was peeling off at places. The roof also had marks, so did the floor, doors and from what I could tell the couches were useless now.

I looked at everyone's expressions as they examined the room. Then I saw Azumi on the floor. Whoops. I was definitely gonna cop it **BIG** time. Inside a bubble of emotions burst and found myself sobbing into the white shirt that still clutched me. I felt the stares of everyone on my back. I cried so hard and worn out my body that I fell into a recuperative sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Recap

_I cried so hard and worn out my body that I fell into a recuperative sleep._

Chapter 3 – The explanation

Normal P.O.V

The SPR team watched as the young man Mai had clutched desperately too, sigh and lift her off her feet and carried her to the shredded couch. That was when they realized that she had fallen asleep. They looked between the unconscious Azumi (who had been laid on the opposite couch) and the sleeping Mai. They could now see the resemblance between the two, with their hair now the same lengths the looked alike, almost identical.

They jumped as the elderly man spoke, "I apologize for the mess. I will pay the full price and have it fixed. We came for a case but I'm guessing you would like an explanation first,"

"That would be nice. I would like to know how my assistant was able to tear apart the room."

The two strangers nodded to each other and sat on the floor, everyone followed suit.

"As you Know Mai and Azumi are sisters. What they tend to neglect to mention is that they are identical twin sisters. Mai is older than Azumi by 7minutes. Haruko here is the girls' older brother. I am their grandfather, Kana. These girls were raised to be above first class assassins. They were separated at birth and trained to believe that no one is their family. Of course they knew otherwise. By the age of three they had learnt to hide all their emotions. But everything soon changed when...," he was interrupted when two voices spoke up.

"...when our father died," said two voices.

"We were close to him. We knew that we weren't meant to but what can you expect from three year olds. When he died we become hollow we felt no emotion. We didn't have to hide them anymore because we felt nothing. Not pain or fear, or joy, sadness or love. We were empty. We trained harder than ever and became consumed," Azumi said everyone's attention now on the awaken girls. Their faces were blank.

"By the age of five, we had mastered everything and were now developing our own moves and techniques. We were the best. No one could defeat us. Our first assignment was given to us on our sixth birthday. It was completed in the fastest time in assassin history. No one saw us. But they did hear us. Poor guy thought a couple of spirits were haunting him," Mai said with an empty smirk on her face. Her adopted family was nervous. What had happened to the Mai that they knew?

"This went on and on. People started hearing rumours and eventually we were dubbed_ SHADOW SPIRITS_. Before someone was killed all they saw was a couple of misty shadows and laughter that if heard you knew you were gonna die and that nothing could save you."

"Unfortunately we grew careless and didn't realize we had been seen by a monk. He told the people and when we got home our mother lay slaughtered on the ground. That was when Azumi disappeared and I went my own way. But not before we compensated the kill. You see we may be assassins but we never kill innocents. Our targets have always had done something wrong such as murder, rape, kidnapping. We have saved more lives than anyone will ever realize," Mai concluded.

The room was silent. Azumi was glancing flirtatiously at Naru who ignored her. She went to play with her hair but stopped short remembering her new look. Azumi then glared at Mai who smirked back. This show of emotion was noticed by everyone. Monk blinked as he examined the little brunette who had become his sister. "If you can't feel or show any emotions then how come you are?" The girls looked at him blank looks then looked away uncomfortably.

Kana then spoke up, "To answer simply, it was because they were loved. All their life only their parents loved them. Haruko wasn't allowed to see them and I was forced to keep away by the council. When the only two people who loved them died they refused to acknowledge anyone. When Mai met you, you accepted her and showed you cared about her. Despite feeling insecure she allowed herself to feel again. Azumi is the same. They both found a family that cared for them."

The unease left everyone and the ever silent Naru finally spoke up. "Why are you here?"

"Because we have a case," Kana said simply, "Recently we've been having some problems. At first it was just banging noises, doors opening and closing and missing animals. We thought it was just some jokes the trainees were pulling until a week ago. Blood has been appearing on the walls and floors as if someone was dragged and the maids and servants have been pushed down the stairs, pushed out of windows and locked in rooms. Our students are also having the same problem but five of them have gone missing and two have turned up dead."

There was silence and Mai spoke up, "It sounds as if you have a rouge assassin, not some paranormal entity. Go away and take care of it yourselves."

"Well Mai if we had thought it was a rouge assassin we would've dealt with it but see the bodies we recovered weren't flawed. Apart from the common scars none were fresh and there was no way to even tell how they had been killed. There was no poison or unknown substance in the blood at all. An autopsy was done and it was only then that we discovered how they died. They had no hearts."


	4. Chapter 4

I'm sorry for the long update. I'm not even going to create any excuses as it was just pure laziness. Anyway Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. It makes me smile to see people who actually enjoy the stories I write when I can. Thank you all again for your support and I hope you enjoy the next chapter.

Recap

"_An autopsy was done and it was only then that we discovered how they died. They had no hearts."_

Mai's P.O.V

I listened carefully. I couldn't care less if some trainees were dying (good riddance) but the case in general interested me. What on earth can possibly steal someone's heart without leaving a trace? I glanced at Naru. I could tell he had practically forgotten the events 15 minutes earlier. There was a look in his eyes that said he would accept the case. This was gonna be interesting and I had a bad feeling. Not really thinking I asked him who were the people missing.

I paled when he answered, "I'm sorry to say that it was Hanzo, Iruka, Hikata, Yuki and Ichigo that have gone missing. Iruka and Ichigo are dead." I couldn't say anything these boys were my sempai by a year or two. Even though I was better than them I still respected them. They had taught Azumi and me a lot of techniques. They were among the five best assassins out there and were quite good looking too (according to many people). Kana continued to explain the situation.

Beside me Azumi was as pale as me and I could see tears threatening to fall. The room seemed to get warmer and it had become harder to breath. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck. Suddenly I could take no more of it. I stood startling everyone and before anyone could speak I had walked out of the front door. I wasn't bothered by the cool crisp winter air as I ran into the park. Many people looked at me surprised. I stopped when I reached the lake. Sitting on a bench I watched the sun sink lower leaving the sky pink. It calmed me down. People slowly disappeared heading for home leaving the park all to me. Tears flowed down my cheeks unable to hold in my anguish any longer.

"Why?" I half screamed, half sobbed, grateful that I was alone. I didn't want anyone to see my pain. If there was a god he must hate me. I mean first my dad then mum and now the five topmost people I respected and actually felt as if they were family; all dead. This is why I hate letting people in. I guess I was slightly happy that when my work family had found out they had accepted it quickly. I pulled my legs up and hugged them, burying my head.

I felt someone sit beside me. The presence was familiar so I didn't bother looking up. "Wh-what do you want?" I asked voice thick from crying.

"It's good to see you again. I'm sorry about earlier. I was just so excited that I wasn't thinking straight. When grandfather met up with me he didn't even tell me what was going on. He didn't even mention _them_. I know you were closer to them than I was. But I still feel the loss to. Please Mai don't cry anymore. There is still hope. I mean we might still have time to rescue Hanzo, Hikata and Yuki. And you'll even get to bust up a spirit or two," Azumi said. I looked at her and smiled gently.

"Thank you Azumi. Sorry that I cut you. But I swear if you throw another knife at one of my friends without a good reason than there will be hell to pay. And I bring out Yuki."

She nodded understanding. Then I pulled out a small dagger the size of my pinkie. Turn around and let me neaten your hair," I ordered. It didn't take long and when she turned we smirked at each other. Good luck trying to tell us apart now.

We began walking out of the park. "What's going to happen now?" I asked.

"Your boss accepted the case and will be arriving tomorrow. Since it's out of town the sleeping arrangements have already been sorted out...and you probably won't like it."

I raised my eyebrow and waited for her to continue "Grandfather Thought it would be best I f they didn't stay at the school since we don't welcome outsiders very well. So he arranged for accommodation near. Everyone will be staying at... your place."

She winced as I yelled, "WHAT?" I hadn't noticed that we had halted in front of the office door. I twitched slightly as the door opened and Ayako looked out to see what was going on. "Mai!" she cried out, dragging me inside with Azumi trailing in behind. "Where have you been?" asked Monk sternly. I rolled my eyes and looked at the time, it was just after 7. "Out," I said before turning to my grandfather.

"Mai, I know you are unhappy with the arrangement but you live close and you have the room. God forbid your parents spoilt you two rotten," he said before I could speak, "And Mai I will not tolerate any complaints. You will not change my mind." He stood and he and Haruko left. Azumi stayed sipping (and grimacing) at a cup of tea that I guessed Masako had made. Silence descended but I knew it wouldn't be long before it was broken.


End file.
